Say NO to New U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa

Demand your representatives to stop construction of two new U.S. military bases on Okinawa Island, which already hosts 20 percent of their island to the Pentagon:
1. Stop construction in Henoko, Okinawa
2. Stop construction in Takae, Okinawa

Text RESIST to Resistbot on Telegram, Messenger, or to 50409 on SMS (cellphone text) and ResistBot will find out who represents you in Congress, and deliver your message to them in under 2 minutes. No downloads or apps required. (Check out ResistBot on Facebook and Twitter). I’ve used ResistBot plenty of times, its safe and especially easy.

To make things easier, you can copy and paste this message:

Dear [CongressPerson],

Despite nearly 20 percent of Okinawa Island hosting U.S. military bases, peace is still a concept treasured by the Okinawan people. I’m writing to urge you to take action in Okinawa in 2 ways:
1. Stop construction in Henoko, Okinawa
2. Stop construction in Takae, Okinawa

The relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko has been overwhelmingly opposed by Okinawans since its announcement in 1996. Daily sit-ins have occurred outside Camp Schwab (Henoko) since 2004 and in December they reached their 5,000th day of protests against this relocation.

In the Northern Training Area, the residents of Takae have done the same opposing the construction of more helipads for the USMC V-22 Ospreys. Again, the overwhelming majority of Okinawans oppose the construction of the helipads. Like most of the island residents of Yanbaru Forest, where the helipads are located, suffer from the impacts of our U.S. military presence: helicopter crashes, noise pollution, environmental pollution, violent and sexual crimes, and more.

If the United States is to stand for democratic principles in this world, we ought to abide by the wishes of the local population of where our military bases are located and where new bases are being built.

I stand with the Okinawan people’s democratic aspirations for peace and the demilitarization of their islands, and so should our Congress. Stop the construction of the base in Henoko and the helipad sites in Takae on Okinawa Island.